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Nacho Bar Party Calculator

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If you're thinking of having a nacho bar for a wedding reception, birthday, graduation, fundraiser, or other event and need to know how much to buy and prepare for a crowd, you'll can get an estimate of what you'll need using this calculator. Nachos are a fun, casual meal that's sure to please, and is much easier than preparing a more formal dinner..

After you enter the number of guests you'll be serving, the result will provide a breakdown of common purchased ingredients and topping suggestions which you can use as a checklist to prepare for your event. So if you need to know how many nachos for 25, 30, 50, 100 or more, the Nacho Bar Calculator will figure it out for you.

Nacho bars are a fun and easy way to feed a large number of people. Guests get to choose their own fillings, so they're less likely to be disappointed. You can serve basic ingredients, or step it up a notch by offering a unique variety of gourmet fillings.

This calculator uses the following information to determine how much is needed:

The average serving of protein per guest is normally 4 ounces. But because of the many other nacho toppings we estimate 3.25 ounces of beef for the average plate of nachos.

Cheese, sour cream, onions and tomatoes tend to be popular toppings (and tend to run out first).

Ingredients have different weights per volume. For example, an ounce (2 TBSP) of black beans weighs 30.1 grams whereas an ounce (2 TBSP) of lettuce weighs 18 grams. This calculator uses an ingredient's actual weight by volume to determine serving size per ounce or TBSP.

Tips:

Milder sauces are more popular than hotter sauces. Consider using only mild or medium heat sauces, but also offering hot sauce for those guests that like the heat.

Use 8" inch paper or plastic plates to minimize waste as well as portioning servings. By using 8 inch plates instead of 10 or 12 inch plates, guests won't be as inclined to overload their nachos with fillings on the second or third trip back to the nacho bar (and hopefully food won't be wasted).

For the calorie conscience-minded, draining and then rinsing 80/20 ground beef results in the equivalent of calories/fat to that of 90/10 to 95/5 ground beef undrained.

Use crock pots to keep the hamburger and nacho cheese sauce warm.

Serve your sour cream in condiment bottles. It will make it easier for guests to top their nachos with sour cream and it will keep the nacho bar much cleaner.